OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society｜2010. Vol.1 No.2, pp.65-100 ❙Article❙ Education as a Mirror of Spanish Society: Challenges and Policies towards Multiple Diversity* Ricard Zapata-Barrero** 1) Abstract The ways in which the dominant cultural majority frames the educa- tional system, determines perceptions of its own identity and under- standings of the ‘other.’ In this article I take a political approach, by ex- amining the management of cultural diversity within Spanish education policies, treating “education as the mirror of society”. This article ana- lyzes Spanish challenges and policies approaches towards the manage- ment of immigration related diversity in education. The main finding is that there is not one approach, but several, due to both the decentralized character of the education system and the multiplicity of diversity that is at stake (i.e. language, religion, culture etc.). ❚Key Words : Education, Diversity, Immigration, Spain, Europe. Introduction: Spain in the European debate In the critical European dilemma between increasing diversity policies and an assimilationist policy,1) education is seen as an in- strument of social integration and a mean of constructing identity. Education continues to be, perhaps more than ever, the most crucial socialization institution. The ways in which the dominant cultural majority frames the educational system determines perception of its own identity and understanding of the ‘other.’ Thus, principles of * This article summarizes the main findings of the Spanish case study of the European Project EMILIE-http://emilie.eliamep.gr. I would like to thanks N.de Witte, Emilie research assistant, for his help in the writing of this article. ** Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. 1) See, for instance, Zapata-Barrero (Ed. 2009), Ertovec & Wessendorf (Ed. 2010). 66 OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society｜2010. Vol.1 No.2 equality of treatment and opportunity, of societal cohesion, of re- specting diversity and social justice are particularly relevant in Europe’s education policies that aim at increasing tolerance for di- versity and awareness of the growing unity between Europeans.2) This has an important impact on practical issues, innovations and concrete actions that schools and teachers undertake in order to ad- dress the education needs of ethnic minority groups, and/or to bet- ter manage ethnic and cultural diversity resulting from current mi- gration trends. Spain entered the policy debate on diversity following its prac- tical approach3) by adopting intercultural education views that pay attention only to individual differences and not to group realities that emphasize host country language as an instrument for integra- tion. However, in the current global context, a pressing need arises to re-consider and pluralize national culture and identity in view of the changing composition of the country’s population, faster than was required in case of older migration hosts (Triandafyllidou & Gropas, 2008). My purpose is to analyze the Spanish case within this European framework. In Spain, during the last 10 years, the number of for- eign pupils in compulsory education4) has increased rapidly, from 43.481 in the year 1996-1997 to 432.800 in the year 2006-2007 (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 2007). This demographic reality has brought discourses and policies that need to be analyzed in or- der to situate Spain within the European framework, identifying its main features.5) The main information-sources for these analyses consist of policy-documents, interviews with policy-makers and a focus group with non-governmental stakeholders. <Table 1> gives an overview of the basic questions that we attempted to answer.6) 2) See Gaine & Gewirtz (Ed. 2008), Triandafyllidou & Gropas (2008), Faas (2010). See also reports and policy briefs on multicultural education in Europe at http://emilie.elia- mep.gr/policy-briefs-on-multicultural-education/ (the following European countries are con- sidered: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Spain and the UK). 3) See Zapata-Barrero (2010b). 4) Education in Spain is compulsory from 6 to 16 years old and consists of Primary Education (6-12 years), divided in 3 periods of 2 years and Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO) (12-16), divided in two periods of 2 years. 5) A first general analysis has been done in Zapata-Barrero (2010b). 6) We would like to thank research assistant Jonathan Zaragoza for his help with conducting interviews in Madrid and Barcelona and organizing the focus group. OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society｜2010. Vol.1 No.2 67 <Table 1> Standards for analysis Standards Basic Questions 1. Perceived challenges What are the main challenges of migra- tion related diversity in education identi- fied by policy-makers? 2. Multicultural focus of How do policy-makers think that multi- education policy cultural reality in schools should be man- aged? Is there a positive evaluation of cultural diversity? Is there compensation for language and educational disadva- ntages? And what about education in/for diversity? 3. Management of linguistic What linguistic model is at work? How is diversity language teaching to immigrants man- aged? And is there a possibility for immi- grants to learn their native languages? 4. Management of religious Is it possible to study different religions diversity in school? Are schools segregated accord- ing to religion, or can different religions be studied in all schools? 5. Organizational and Has a multicultural reality resulted in any institutional adaptations institutional or curricular changes? If so, what changes have been made? The nexus between challenges and policies constitute a driv- ing-force articulating the following sections. Section one outlines how multiculturalism in Spain has shaped the education system af- ter the democratic transition, giving a historical account of how pol- icy has developed from exclusion and segregation to finally in- corporating cultural minorities. In section two the educational chal- lenges related to the arrival of immigrants in schools are discussed, by pointing out the main current debates. Section three then turns to the policy approaches and goes into the competence of different levels of administration. Finally section four summarizes the main characteristics of Spanish approach and policy discourses, and what we can learn from the European perspective. 68 OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society｜2010. Vol.1 No.2 1. Contextualizing educational challenges in the Spanish edu- cation system The main educational challenges brought upon by immigration have to be understood within the democratic transition context of Spain. The terms of debate were twofold: how to de-monopolize education from the Catholic Church and how to manage the emer- gent cultural diversity related to minority nations - and to lesser ex- tent gypsies - with their own language, history and “societal culture.”7) The direction that took place on both issues frames today’s basic educational challenges related to immigration.8) With regard to the first debate on secularizing education, two outcomes are relevant. First, the educative system has been divided into public, private and what are called escuelas concertadas, schools financed partly by the state and partly by the Catholic Church. The concertada schools are results of the political negotiation that took place in the transition phase, since the Catholic Church had practi- cally the monopoly over education during the Franco dictatorship. According to the statistics, 80% of the foreign students are enrolled in public schools and 20% in private and concertada schools. Not only has this resulted in educational inequalities between Spanish public and private schools, because students from minority back- grounds perform at lower academic level than their peers, but it al- so led to the politicization of the immigrants segregation question. Second, in spite of the decrease in the influence of the Church, Catholic religion is a compulsory course in both primary and secon- dary education, which means that it must be offered by educational establishments, but pupils now may take it or leave it on a volun- tary basis. The arrival of immigrant students with different reli- gious beliefs has given rise to demands for education on other religions. The second debate is related to Spain’s minority nations. Since the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution in 1978, several re- 7) "By a societal culture, I mean a territorially-concentrated culture, centered on a shared lan- guage which is used in a wide range of societal institutions, in both public and private life (schools, media, law, economy, government, etc.). I call it societal culture to empha- size that it involves a common language and social institutions, rather than common reli- gious beliefs, family customs, or personal lifestyles" (Kymlicka, 2001, p.25). 8) For an overview of legal reforms in the Spanish education system see Prats, 2005, p. 174-184. OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society｜2010. Vol.1 No.2 69 gions of Spain have been re/granted political and administrative competences. The Spanish education system has undergone several changes in this respect, gradually transferring services and re- sources from the central administration to the Autonomous Communi- ties. The Laws of Linguistic Normalization (1983) gave Catalan, Basque and Galician an official status in their respective territories and also provided regional authorities with control